First time watercooling problems

[fumbles22]

Hello,

I've been messing around with watercooling in two computers lately. I haven't watercooled before, so i've run into a few problems.

The first computer failed the leak test. a jubilee clip wasn't tightened down enough, and some coolant ended up on a PCI-E slot. This wasn't a lot - as soon as I saw some fluid leaking from tube I switched off the PSU (that i'd jumped) and tightened the jubilee clip. I'd say only a teaspoon of fluid ended up on the PCI slot.

Here's a quick picture of the first PC. I took it hurriedly, so sorry about the focus. I've also disconnected the video card in an attempt to dry it out.

You can see the PCI slot that the coolant got on. I have the waterblock, under that is a square motherboard heatsink thing, and under that is the slot that the coolant landed on (the long one under the RAM).

This computer now fails to boot. I originally thought that it would be fine since i used coolant instead of distilled water. I thought the coolant would be non-conductive, so I plugged in the graphics card and turned everything on. The fans start spinning (the fans are connected to the motherboard sockets, not the molex ones) but I don't even get motherboard beeps.

I've taken out the CMOS battery to clear the BIOS. That didn't work.

I then tried removing the graphics card and booting with just the processor and RAM installed. There were no beeps.

I tried booting with just the processor installed. There were no beeps.

Does this mean that my motherboard is now broken? I can't believe that such a tiny amount of fluid has wrecked my computer! I've read about worse watercooling catastrophes that have ended up alright!

I have ordered some isopropyl alcohol to put on the PCI slot. Will that be enough?

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Determined not to repeat the same problems with my second computer, I tightened every jubilee clip thoroughly. When the leak testing began, I had a leak at a barb on the reservoir. I drained the system, tightened the barb and that crisis was averted.

However, when further leak testing began I noticed a HUGE leak by the motherboard. I was really surprised by this given that i'd checked everything thoroughly, but it turned out that the leak was coming from the CPU waterblock itself.

Here's a picture of the offending article:

This is a Koolance 350-AT waterblock.

I've tried taking the o rings out and putting them back in again, but I still get leaks. I think the best course of action is to buy new O-rings.

According to the Koolance website, I need an O ring with an outer diameter of 21.5mm and a thickness of 1.5mm.

Unfortunately, ebay only seem to list O rings with an inner diameter. Does this mean that I need an O ring with an inner diameter of 18.5mm?

I get this value of 18.5mm from doing 21 - 1.5 - 1.5 which gives 18.5mm as a result (if you draw a picture of two concentric circles and mark on the thicknesses and outer diameter, you can see where i'm coming from).

Also, there are two O rings in the waterblock. Do I need to replace both of them, or just the big one round the edge?

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Thanks for reading. I'd like to see what some of the more experienced people have to say on this.

Can you wreck a motherboard with such a small amount of coolant?
Can you figure out the ID of an O ring from it's thickness and OD?

I look forward to hearing what everyone has to say about this.

 

[Trunkey]

Yes that amount of water can take out your motherboard and if your unlucky other components too, you can also get lucky and really hose your system down and survive so long as it is properly dried out.
Over tightening jubilee clips can be as bad as having them too loose, I speak from bitter experience and the early days of 240v relays in PCi slots to turn on fishpond water pumps inside PC's.
You might be able to cure the cpu water block leaking barbs with some PTFE tape on the treads like plumber's use on radiators.
Hope your damage isn't too expensive

 

[fumbles22]

I forgot to mention:

The CPU waterblock isn't leaking from the barbs. It's leaking from the join between the black part and the silver part. That's why I need such a large O ring.

I'll clean the PCI socket with alcohol tomorrow and hopefully it will fire up. I hope that the problem is that coolant in the PCI slot is causing a short circuit which is confusing the motherboard when it tries to boot. If I get rid of the coolant, the electricity should flow like it should so it should boot up properly.

If that doesn't work I might need to get a new motherboard...

 

[bishi]

And this is why I am scared of watercooling xD

 

[passey89]

As long as u had every power cable unplugged whilst leak testing and fully let it dry out it should have been ok.

U got all the cables plugged in including the 4/6 pin cpu one?

 

[ION]

Personnally sounds like your big mistake was being too impatient and turning on the PC before it was completely dry.

Essentially water falling into your PCI-E slot is pretty much the worst thing that can happen, it's essential, if this does happen that you get an aircan as quickly as possible and spray into the slot. Otherwise you'll never get it out (and if it's dirty water that can be the end of the board), then leave it upside-down for at least a few days.

Along with this clean the board as much as you can with alcohol before you turn it on again (do this straight after using the aircan).

Sadly as you have already turn that board on you can pretty much accept that, that board is dead.

Also sounds like you need to return your CPU block as that is also faulty. Or you can try and contact koolance to try and get it replace, or get them to send you a new o-ring.

 

[fumbles22]

U got all the cables plugged in including the 4/6 pin cpu one?

I have. That was the first thing I checked since it seemed like a mistake I would have made!

Personnally sounds like your big mistake was being too impatient and turning on the PC before it was completely dry.

My view was that, since I had used coolant, the liquid was non conductive. Therefore, I thought that there would be no short circuiting happening.

I've decided that coolant isn't as good as distilled water. If I had spilt distilled water on the PCI slot, I could have left it for 24 hours and it would have evaporated. I left the coolant spill for 24 hours before switching it on but, upon closer examination after the initial turn on, there was an oily residue left. Therefore, distilled water is more forgiving (and it's also cheaper).

My alcohol order has been delayed, so i'll have to wait a bit longer to clean it out. It's my last hope before buying a new board.

Sadly as you have already turn that board on you can pretty much accept that, that board is dead.

Also sounds like you need to return your CPU block as that is also faulty. Or you can try and contact koolance to try and get it replace, or get them to send you a new o-ring.

So my board is dead and I need a new CPU block. This venture into watercooling is not going well!

I did go to my local plumbing store today (in fact, two stores) but none of them had the o ring that I needed.

And this is why I am scared of watercooling xD

I'm not having regrets, but i'm starting to realise that i've spent a lot of money to make some expensive mistakes...

I will say though that the computer in the picture isn't leaking one bit. I've had it plugged in now for a good few days and there's been no leakage anywhere. The problem was the initial few drops from a loose jubilee clip. If I had snugged it up beforehand, I would be overclocking like a nutter right now.

In retrospect I would put everything in the case (including the cpu block on the motherboard) and get the pipes where I wanted them. I would then remove the motherboard and PSU from the case before doing a leak test.

The motherboard and PSU would not be in the case.

This would mean that any leaks would fall onto the bottom of the case and not on the motherboard. Of course, I would need to look after the graphics card but i've limited the damage to at most one component.

 

[Syrellaris]

You can keep the motherboard in the pc case, with the cpu + waterblock attached, that isn't an issue.

You do however need to run a leak test before actually powering anything. Hence you keep all cables disconnected other than the one for the pump.

Take your graphics card and such out and put tissue papers around all the hose connection points and such.

It is also not a bad idea to cover up any slots.